A reader and writer fooling with words

Syzygy – when everything comes together

This week’s word proves that not everything has to have a vowel. It’s syzygy (the tricky pronunciation, sizz-i-gee, is here in audio) and it describes the straight line configuration of three celestial bodies (planets, moons, stars) in a gravitational system. The most obvious set of three in our neighbourhood is the sun, moon, and earth but it does happen for others too.

Syzygy comes from the ancient Greek word for “yoked together” and I love the image that conjures of planets harnessed together, perhaps to pull the milky way into the celestial milking shed?

Syzygies have interesting, and as yet not fully known, effects on the celestial bodies involved. They can cause moonquakes, for example, but are not proven to cause earthquakes. They can also cause exceptional tidal activity.